Preservation Green Lab

Preservation Green Lab

The Preservation Green Lab connects old buildings with new ideas. Guided by the belief that older buildings and blocks are essential to creating sustainable, equitable, and affordable cities, the Green Lab conducts research, delivers tools, promotes policies, and convenes partners to deliver a new kind of economic development leveraging existing buildings and underutilized spaces.

ReUrbanism:
Shaping Communities Through Reuse

Adaptive reuse should be the default, and demolition the option of last resort. More on our ReUrbanism initiative.

Atlas of ReUrbanism

Research

Since 2009, the Preservation Green Lab has been challenging long-held beliefs within the preservation movement through big data, mapping, and spatial analysis. Our groundbreaking research uses the language of developers, city officials, and policy makers to make the case that building reuse can and should be promoted as a tool for sustainable development. For updates be sure to also follow PGL on Twitter @presgreenlab.

Preservation & Sustainability

In recent years, sustainability has come to
mean more than simply being environmentally responsible. Older buildings
and blocks are a key component to creating successful cities and
neighborhoods – historic fabric creates economically vital, socially
equitable, and strong, resilient neighborhoods.

Solutions + Tools

Reusing and retrofitting vacant and underused buildings across the country will help cities become more sustainable while meeting changing market demands. To help make this process easier and more likely, the Green Lab has developed policies and tools that can unlock development potential in cities across the country.

The Preservation Leadership Forum of the National Trust for Historic
Preservation is a network of preservation leaders — professionals,
students, volunteers, activists, experts — who share the latest
ideas, information, and advice, and have access to in-depth
preservation resources and training.